Denture attachment and means for



H. SCHREIER.

DENTURE ATTACHMENT AND MEANS FOR APPLYING THE SAME.

APPLICATION men MAYIZ. I919.

1,322,355. Patented Nov. 18, 1919.

Herman Schre: 21;

HERMAN SCHREIER, OF SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN.

DENTURE ATTACHMENT AND MEANS FOR APPLYING THE SAME.

- Specification of Letters'Patent.

Patented Nov. 18, 1919.

Application filed May 12, 1919. Serial No. 296,439.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN SOHREIER, a

citizen of the United States, and resident of Sheboygan, in the county of Sheboygan and State of WVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Denture Attachments and Means for Applying the Same; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof. My present invention pertains to new and useful improvements in attachments for dentures and in the means for associating the same therewith.

Many; persons who find it necessary to wear dentures have difliculty in retaining the same in proper operative position; this is particularly true with respect to the upper plate. Therefore I devised means for retaining the upper and lower dentures in place and on October 16, 1917, was granted Patent No. 1,242,989 thereon.

The present invention relates to improvements in the structure covered by said patent by permitting a more universal movement of the two dentures with respect to each other to correspond more closely with the movements of the wearers The means for urging the denture supporting parts of the device away from-each other consists of a tempered metallic spring, such having been found to be the most eflicient. Inasmuch as heat decreases the eflieiency of metallic springs, and since it is necessary to vuloanize the dentures after they have been molded, -it isalso an object of this invention to provide a. temporary connecting member for holding the dentures inposition while being vulcanized,- this connecting member being somewhat similar in shape to the permanent device. is readily substituted for the temporary member upon completion of the heat treating process.

With these and other objects and advantages in-view, the invention residesin the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of partswhich will be hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing zfl Figure 1;,represents a side'elevational view of a set of dentures eonnected together by m invention.

The latter Fig. 2 is a plan view of two adjacent end portions of the dentures.

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, of the permanent connecting device.

Fig. 4c is a somewhat similar view ofthe temporary connecting member. eferring more particularly to the drawing, the-numerals 1 and 2 indicate the upper and lower dentures respectively with which my invention is used. The teeth are held in the plate portions in any preferred manner and the latter are constructed of any suitable plastic material which may be subsequently hardened, for instance vulcanizable rubber.

The connecting attachments 3, comprising the major portion of my invention, are secured to the dentures 1 and 2 by attaching ears 4 and similar yokes 5, one of the attachments being located on each side of the dentures at the inner ends thereof. While the material of the plates is yet plastic the attaching ears and yokes 4 and 5 are molded into position, and after the dentures are heat treated these parts will be rigidly seated therein and will form a substantially integral part thereof. From Fig. 1 it will be appreciated that the ears 4 are secured in the upper denture plate and the yokes 5 in the lower.

During the vulcanizing of the dentures it is essential that they assume substantially the same position that they will occupy when being worn, and as hereinbefore mentioned it is not desirable to subject the permanent connecting attachments 3 to heat, temporary connecting members 3 are secured to the ears and yokes 4 and 5. Each of these members 3 consists of a pair of jaws 6 and 7, one end of each of which has an enlargementS by which they are pivoted together. The jaw 6 is bifurcated to receive one of the ears 4 and is detachably secured thereto by a pin 9 that extends through alined openings in the furcations of the. jaw. and the ear.

The other. jaw 7 is considerably longer than the first, it being provided with an 10 disposed between the parts of one of the yokes 5 .an attaching pin 11 extending through. alined openings in the yoke and arm detachablv secure these parts together.

After the heat treating or vulcanizing is complete the attaching pins 9 and 11 are removed and the temporary connecting memhers 3' separated from the dentures to permit the substitution of the permanent spring actuated connecting attachments 3. Each 01 the attachments comprises a pair of jaws 12 and 13 which, when in operative position are vertically alined, the attaching portions thereof each being bifurcated, while their other ends are provided with circular enlargements 14lpivoted together as at 15. The adjacent faces of the enlargements are annularly recessed to form a cavity 16 in which is located a coiled spring 17 the tension of which is exerted to urge the attaching portions 12' and 13 respectively away from. each other. The furcations of the portion 12 of each attachment 3 receives one of the ears 4 therebetween, said ears being rigidly secured thereto by rivets or the like 18.

The attaching portions 13 of the other jaws 13 each have a link 19 pivoted between the furcations thereof by a pivot pin 20. The outer end of each link 19 is slotted as at 21, the slots being decreased in width from their inner to their outer ends as shown in Fig. 3, and these slots receive pivot pins 22 that connect-the furcations of the yokes 5.

Such construction of the lower jaws of the connecting attachments permits the lower denture to move horizontally and transversely with respect to the upper and lower to shift toward and away from the pivotal connection between said jaws 12 and 13. The dentures will thus be free to move in accordance with the movements of the .earers jaws. As in the structure covered by the above mentionedpatent the springs 17 cause the dentures to be urged away from each other to retain the upper one in engagement with the wearers palate.

From the foregoing description those skilled in the art will see that I have invented an extremely efficient denture attachment which may be readily associated therewith and may be worn without discomfort to the user. Various changes may be made in the form and proportion and in the other details of construction without departing from or sacrificing any of the principles of the invention.

I claim:

1. The combination with a pair of dentures, of means for holding the same in position in a persons mouth comprising a pair of jaws pivoted together, the outer ends of said jaws being movable vertically avith respect to each other, one jaw being fixed to one denture, the other jaw being slid-ably connected to the other denture and movable substantially longitudinally in a substantially horizontal plane.

2. The combination with a pair of dentures, of means for holding the same in position in a persons mouth comprising a pair of jaws pivoted together, the outer ends of said jaws being movable vertically with re spent to each other, one jaw being fixed to one denture, the other jaw being slidably and pivotally connected to the other denture and movable laterally and longitudinally in a horizontal plane.

3. The combination with a pair of dentures, of means for holding the same in position in a persons mouth comprising a pair of jaws pivoted together, the outer ends of said jaws being movable vertically with respect to each other, one jaw being fixed to one denture, the other jaw including a link portion pivoted to the main portion and also to said other denture, the parts of said other jaw being movable in a relatively horizontal plane.

a. The combination with a pair of dentures, of means for holding the same in position in a persons mouth comprising a pair of jaws pivoted together, the outer ends of said jaws being movable vertically with respect to each other, one jaw being fixed to one denture, the other jaw including a link portion pivoted to the main portion, said link portion having a slot and being slidably and pivotally connected to the other denture, the parts of said other jaw being movable laterally and longitudinally in a substantially horizontal plane.

5. The combination with a pair of dentures, of means for holding the same in position in a persons mouth comprising a pair of jaws pivoted together, means for moving the outer ends of said jaws vertically away from each other, the lower jaw being 100 formed of three parts, one of said parts having a slot, a second part being fixed to one denture and having a pivot disposed in the slot, and the third part being pivoted to the slotted part whereby the outer end of 105 the lower aw may swing laterally and shift longitudinally in. a substantially horizontal plane.

6. In a device of the class described, a pair of dentures adapted to be heat treated 110 to prepare the same for use, and a temporary hinged connecting member joining the dentures during the heat treating, and to be substituted by a permanent comiecting member when the treating is complete.

7. In a device of the class described, a pair of dentures formed of plastic material and adapted to be vulcanized to prepare the same for use, an attaching element disposed in each denture while plastic, and a tem- 120 porary connecting member detachably joining the detaching elements during vulcanization to retain the dentures in correct relation, said temporary connecting member being substituted by a permanent connecting 125 member when the vulcanizing is complete.

8. In a device of the class described, a pair of dentures formed of plastic material and adapted to be vulcanized to prepare the same for use, an attaching element disposed 130 in each denture While plastic, and a temporary connecting member comprising hinged jaws, one being detachably connected to each element during vulcanizing, said jaws auid 'elenients having alined openings, and pins detachably disposed in said alined openings, said temporary connecting member being adapted to be substituted by a permanent connecting member When the vulcanizing is complete. 10

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee,

in the county of Milwaukee and State of Visconsin.

HERMAN SCI-IREIER 

